Always playing your best

Last night I played at Red Rock (1/2 NL).  I had some fun at first, but overall I ended up not having that much fun.  The reason is not because the game was bad or because I got unlucky.  The reason is because I played terrible, I knew I was playing terrible, and I ended up losing a lot because of it.

The hands really aren't even worth discussing.  Just overall really bad decisions.  I raise to 7, lady reraises to 35, guy calls, I call with 9-9.  That's just too much to call unless I know for sure she is a complete moron that is going to stack off 100% of the time.  Or another hand where I decide to 3 barrel bluff with A-J, no pair, after I bet the 10 high flop, bet again on the K turn, and bet again on the heart river.  Really it might not have been so bad if I had ANY reason to think this guy could fold, but I definitely didn't think he was a good player or anything.  I just blindly dumped off $150 on that hand for no reason.  Countless other really bad decisions, limping or raising with any 2 cards (including 7-2 offsuit multiple times), etc.

I've been playing 2/5 exclusively over the last couple weeks, and I've been running really good.  So yesterday I played 1/2 with my wife and I thought I'd just "have fun" and play stupid.  But you know what is fun, winning money.  :P  Just because I'm playing at lower stakes, there's no reason why I can't have fun by just playing my best and taking advantage of how people will generally be playing worse than at my normal stakes.  And I can make moves, just like I do at my usual game, but I need to pick my spots.  If I want to do anything that is a little risky, value betting thinner than normal is what I should be doing instead of bluffing.  Obviously bluffing the worst players possible is not a great idea because they will continue to call you.

This isn't a new lesson for me or anything, but last night just made me think that I need to be smarter about those situations.  I ended up losing $350.  That is ridiculous.  For the hands I had, I should have only played a handful of times, and out of those maybe I could have lost $100 max.  I really didn't have that many playable hands.  Sure, it would have been somewhat boring.  But just hanging out with my wife, seeing her play well, and trying to read the other players when I'm paying attention should be enough fun for me.

Just something to think about as I continue to play.  There is nothing but good that can come out of playing my very best 100% of the time.